WND EXCLUSIVE

Drug dealer meets church girl

Movie takes on honesty, faith, honor and commitment

Published: 10/19/2013 at 7:00 PM

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Ja Rule, a rapper known for, well, phraseology that wouldn’t do so well in a family publication, is taking on honesty, faith, honor and commitment in a new movie that sticks out like a sore thumb among current movie titles like “Carrie,” “Escape Plan,” “All is Lost,” “Kill Your Darlings,” “As I Lay Dying,” ” Bad Milo,” “Hell Baby” and “Touchy Feely.”

Christianity Today has noted the actor’s history – he’s “a foul-mouthed rapper with a history of gun and drug charges” – playing the role of a high-rolling drug trafficker turning his life around and opting for legal business ventures.

Then he meets Vanessa Leon, played by former Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon.

Its promoters call it a “powerful, inspiring story of a love bewteen a man and a woman, a gift of second chances, and a family at home and in church that never stops praying and believing.”

The project was put together by Galley Molina, a former music industry executive who did prison time after a venture in drug trafficking who now is a youth pastor in San Jose.

His company, Reverence Gospel Media, was founded to create God-glorifying, life-impacting projects across a wide creative spectrum – faith-based films for theatrical and television audiences, music from some of the most talented and influential Christian artists in the world, live concerts and other events.

The company points out that in recent years, a handful of “pioneering” faith-based films
opened the door to American audiences who perhaps were tired of the negative messages like “Hell Baby.”

“Reverence Gospel Media was founded in response to calls from many in this audience for real excellence…film and music that not only resonates deeply with what we believe, but that reaches for the very highest standards of quality found in the very best movies and the finest, best-produced music we hear and see every day,” the company acknowledges.

Molina said, “The message of this film is really simple but profound. Sometimes God needs to use extreme measures to deal with extreme circumstances. I was that extreme circumstance. This film is simply about the power of God in a man’s life. The unique part of this story aside from being based and inspired on my real-life experiences is that I wrote it while I was incarcerated in a federal prison on drug trafficking charges.”